ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) shares are trading in the green on Wednesday afternoon. At the time of writing, the banking giant's shares are up 1.55% to $37.88.
After spiking at an all-time high of $40.98 a piece in mid-February, ANZ shares have fallen 7.4%. Although they're still 4.01% higher for the year to date and 30.53% higher over the year.
Image source: Getty Images
What caused ANZ shares to spike to an all-time high?
In mid-February, the ASX bank stock posted a first-quarter cash profit of $1.94 billion, up a whopping 75% from the second-half average of FY25. Operating income was up 4% and cash return on tangible equity climbed 11.7% over the quarter.
ANZ also confirmed that it is pressing ahead with its strategy to simplify its business and reduce operational costs this year.
The news delighted investors and instilled some renewed confidence into the stock and its other banking peers. ANZ shares closed at an all-time high following the announcement.
So, why has the share price now cooled?
There hasn't been any price-sensitive news out of ANZ since its trading update last month. This implies the drop may have come down to investors taking profit off the table after the shares rallied sharply to their all-time peak.
At the same time, investors are cautious about bank shares as global uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and inflation pressures weigh heavily on sentiment across the sector.
What's next for the ASX bank's shares?
Analysts are very split about the outlook for ANZ shares this year. TradingView data shows that six out of 16 analysts have a buy or strong buy rating, and another six have a hold rating. Meanwhile, four analysts have a sell or strong sell rating.
The potential upsides and downsides vary wildly, too. The average price target is $37.09, which implies a 1.87% downside at the time of writing. But some analysts think the shares can jump 13.74% to $43, and others think the stock will crash 31.44% to $25.92.
Following the bank's results last month, Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to a buy with a $41.30 target price.
Meanwhile, Macquarie and Jeffries have hold ratings on the bank's shares.
Morgans is one of the brokers that is bearish on ANZ shares. The team recently downgraded ANZ shares to a sell. They said that ANZ's quarterly update suggests that it is performing ahead of expectations. But this outperformance was driven by cost-outs. While this would usually be good news, management has retained its full-year cost guidance, the broker noted.
